Debate contribution: RHI Inquiry Recommendations: Implementation

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 5 November 2024.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

5 November 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

RHI Inquiry Recommendations: Implementation

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4632048

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I said in a debate just before recess that RHI is the subject that causes dread and fear in the Assembly, but it is important that we deal with the past not for the sake of ticking a box or having a report but to actually allow us to move forward and build confidence in the Assembly for the future. The Audit Office report highlights the ridiculously slow speed of implementation, and that is made worse when the Assembly does not sit. The report reinforces the damage that the collapse of the Assembly has had on the speed of progress and highlights the delays that happen. Work just stops, and we then try to play catch-up in the time when we are sitting again. It is time that we realise real reform of these institutions. Why is it important to deal with RHI and to fully implement the report and the recommendations? It is not just about looking at the past; it is about learning from the past. Equally, it is about looking to the future and providing confidence. We can stand up and rant like the leader of the Opposition has just done, but we are achieving nothing. We are failing to deliver the change that we require and that the public deserve.

Yes, OK.

Thank you for the extra minute. We are the party of reform, and we have been talking about it for a long time. The leader of the Opposition stood up a second ago and said that the Opposition have not been working well and that he hopes that they will start now. I think that the rest of us agree with that.

If you read Hansard, I think that you will find that that was what was said. Change happens when we work together. The public and our future renewables sector need to be given the confidence that the Departments here are over the detail of what went wrong to allow us to learn lessons and provide assurance for the wider investor that, as we move into new renewable schemes, those schemes are protected. While it is easy to have a dig at the SDLP or at the DUP for creating RHI in the first place, the public need to have the assurance that we, as a collective Assembly, are grown-up enough to work to sort out the issues and move forward while building confidence in the Assembly rather than just having a go. We need to be able to close down RHI while respecting and looking after those who legitimately went into that scheme in good faith. I met some of those owners in the past number of weeks. At the same time as learning from the past, we need to make sure that those people are looked after as we go forward and learn the lessons from the 2020 inquiry. The Audit Office report indicates that 62% of the inquiry recommendations have now been implemented compared with 43%. Diane Forsythe named a couple of those, and I absolutely agree with her that some of them are necessary and fundamental requirements. However, we need to get on with this, implement the remaining recommendations from the report and move forward. Unfortunately, the debate a couple of weeks ago on RHI highlighted that the Department for the Economy has further to go on this to bring confidence to our Committee, the Assembly and the public as a whole. The PAC report on the lack of progress in the Department of Finance also highlights that. I said in the debate a couple of weeks ago that I want to support the Minister and want to deliver better for people, but there must be transparency from the Departments to build that confidence and to give us confidence. Actually, on RHI, there is a case that the Department needs to go even further and be absolutely transparent about the issues that we are dealing with and bring full transparency to the Committee and the Assembly so that there is no doubt that all the information is in front of us so that we can make a clear judgement that is based on evidence. I appreciate that there is a bit of political drama when it comes to the three letters "RHI", and that is what you get in this place, but let us not forget — I want to emphasise this — that people are suffering because of that scheme; they went into it legitimately and are now left with the consequences. Our goal should be to learn from this, to see the reform coming through the Assembly and to look after those people as we move towards closure of the scheme. All Departments should work together to help decarbonise the region and give us a cleaner environment in which to live, which was the scheme's original purpose. We should look after and protect our environment. The energy sector need to see growth, which has stagnated, and our public need to have energy security. We need to expand quickly if we are to meet our renewables target of 80% by 2030, and we do not have time to waste or for there to be more drama and delay. Rather, we need to move on and learn from the past. Let us therefore keep our focus on the prize that brings about reform and that leaves the past in the past. We should look after those who were caught up in the scheme and implement the Audit Office proposals quickly in order to give people confidence and to grow confidence in the Assembly and in any future renewable scheme that is introduced.

943 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:31 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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